The present invention solves many problems that face any type of tire repair as it relates to punctures and leaks. Originally the field of bicycling was the primary field of use for the present invention. It was determined that a variety of other applications includes also well within the scope of the present invention. Other applications could include: ATV's, utility vehicles, lawn and garden tractors, wheelbarrows, golf carts and automobiles but are not limited to those listed. The invention grew out a need for a simple, more accurate and less messy way of injecting puncture sealant into a tire which has either lost its air or has otherwise become unable to hold the air which is put into it. A further development of the invention came when it was found that there are two types of valve stems in conventional bicycle tires. The Schrader type of valve stem is of a larger diameter and has a different set of threads than its smaller Presta counterpart. The present invention has a connector which can accommodate both the Schrader and Presta valve stem arrangements without the need for changing or adapting the end of the unit. The tire sealant of the present invention was designed with the everyday user, such as a homeowner or casual biking enthusiast in mind. The device is capable of larger, commercial applications as well.
A bottle type container can be used to hold a variety of fluids and can be sold in a kit form with the plunger mechanism, hose and connector. The initial amount of fluid can be sold in the bottle within the kit and can be repeatedly refilled after the original fluid has been dispensed.
The prior art known consists mainly of either an aerosol type of injector system or a device that needs to be hooked up to an external power source to provide the injecting means for depositing the sealant into the tire. Both have deficiencies that the present invention does not. The present invention forms a leak-free connection with the valve stem regardless of the type of stem encountered. Traditional ways of injecting sealant into tires creates a messy situation as excess sealant runs down the valve stem and requires extensive clean up. Virtually all of the sealant used with the present invention is deposited into the tire and thus none is wasted. This waste causes money to be lost and additional time is spent cleaning up after use. The present invention has neither of these problems. The second main advantage of the present invention is one of simplicity. The tire sealant injector of the present invention does not rely on any external power source, such as a pump, to dispense the fluid. This is not only costly to do but also has to be done in the vicinity of electric power which may or may not always be available. The tire sealant injector of the present invention is an improvement over the manual squeeze bottle type which is known in the art. The squeeze bottle method has the major drawback of having to wait for the air refill the reservoir after the first squeeze. Hand fatigue is a major problem with the squeeze bottle type of dispenser since it takes several pumps to inject enough sealant into the tire. This can be very time consuming as a set of four tires can take up to 45 minutes to 1 hour to fix. Four tires can be sealed in less than 15 minutes with the tire sealant injector of the present invention.
The present invention allows for a controlled, measured amount of sealant to be injected into the tire with out the mess and waste of the conventional systems known today. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,145 to Jaksa show a typical system for injecting sealing fluid into a tire which includes a valve stem connector, reservoir chamber and a flexible hose connecting the two. Jaksa also shows a set of fittings which connect to a source of compressed air or pump to inject the sealant into the tire. The invention of Jaksa is both more costly than the present invention and relies on an outside agent (compressed air from a pump or compressor) to inject the sealing fluid into the tire. This is a typical construction for many of the prior art documents in this field. It should also be pointed out that the device of Jaksa makes no provision for servicing both Schrader and Presta type valve stems. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,954 to Will shows a tire inflation system using a compressed gas to fill a tire with air. Will does not make any attempt to fix a puncture but rather a way of inflating a brand new tube when positioned within a tire. The only significant thing in this patent is that an adapter is used to accommodate both Schrader and Presta type valve stems.